How To Select The RIGHT CAMP For Your Child BY marguerite paolino For the typical middleschooler, life revolves around friends and all the electronics that go with socializing with them. And for most of the year, Rebecca Harrison is just as attached to her cell phone and just as glued to the TV as her peers. When it comes to summertime, however, this 13-yearold girl's idea of fun doesn't involve anything that has to be plugged in. For the past three years, she has spent weeks of her summer vacation swinging from ropes, roaming the woods and sleeping in a cabin at Mass Audubon's Wildwood Camp, an overnight summer camp in Rindge, N.H. There are no flush toilets - and no American Idol reruns. "She just loves it," said her mom Debbie Harrison, of Peabody. "She likes the fact that it's simple. She has a chance to do things she doesn't normally do, and she automatically makes 18 new friends when she arrives. The feeling of being accepted is wonderful." The Right Camp For the Harrisons, the Wildwood Camp was a natural choice for an overnight camp. Rebecca and her younger sisters had been attending day camp programs at their local Mass Audubon Sanctuary for years and had already developed a connection to the organization and some of the staff. Starting from scratch can be a more difficult process. While it can be tempting to go with whatever camp the neighbor's child goes to, there may be a program that better fits your child's interests and personality. Finding it may mean starting the research process a full year before your child will go to camp. "You know your own child, and the key is to find the right match between you, your child and the camp," said Bette Bussel, executive director of the American Camp Association of New England, based in Lexington. "The longer you plan in advance, the more opportunity you have to find the camp that feels right." With 300 state-licensed camps available in Massachusetts and many municipal camps throughout the state as well, families have a range of options broad enough to pique any child's interest. Specialty camps are widely available for everything from gymnastics to soccer, horseback riding to science, theater arts to robotics. Many camps also feature an affiliation to a religious group or another organization, like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, 4- H, or the Audubon Society. Bussel said campers tend to become more interested in specialty camps by age 9 or 10, but general camps that feature swimming, boating, arts and crafts, and other traditional activities are still the most popular, especially for younger and first-time campers. Camps also offer half-day, full-day, overnight sessions for one or several weeks at a time, with the option to sign up for multiple sessions. Some offer beforeand after-camp care to accommodate parents' work schedules. Ashland mom Davida Dinerman visited several camps before she decided to send her daughter to Camp Tel Nor this coming summer. Camp was an influential part of life for Dinerman, and she's eager for her children to share the experience. She spent summers at Camp Matoaka in Maine from 1974 to 1983, first as a camper and then as a counselor. Her husband went to Camp Tel Noar, where their daughter Abigail, 10, will go for the first three weeks of summer this year. Ari, 7, will go to Camp Grossman in Westwood. Dinerman described the sense of adventure and freedom kids can find at camp, when they're spending so much time outdoors without family to watch over them. "You learn that there's a world bigger than yourself, and you take care of each other," she said. "You get to know other people very well. You go to socials, and you get your first kiss at camp, maybe. You might have been terrified of the water and all of a sudden you're swimming. Through all of that, you find yourself." Fresh Air Fun While many children, like Abigail and Ari Dinerman and Rebecca Harrison, look forward to camp all year long, not all kids are eager to leave the comforts of home. "For a lot of kids, the outdoors can be a very unfamiliar setting," said Wildwood Director Bob Speare. "It's not part of their everyday life. When I had a day off from school, I was outside climbing a tree. Now, there aren't those opportunities for kids. They end up with a joystick in their hand in front of the TV." Yet, once they're actually put in the situation, most kids find nature fascinating. "We're not looking to teach. We're looking to provide fun experiences in the natural setting so kids can pick up on the magic of the natural world," Speare said. Bussel agrees that children need to get outside more. "It used to be that you could get on a bike and go to the candy store," she said. "But parents are scared these days. Things have changed, but we don't want children to become so insular that they forget to go out and explore these things." Steve LaFountain, director 4-H Camp Middlesex, a small overnight camp in Central Massachusetts, believes even a single week of camp can help children grow tremendously. "Since a camping atmosphere encourage campers to help out and learn how to live with others, many become more confident and show a greater sense of independence," LaFountain said. Beckett Lung, a Medfield mom of four, has her children attend a short program. The Natick Community Organic Farm offers half-day sessions that are perfect for her family, since she doesn't like to have a rigorous schedule in the summer but she wants to expose her children to new situations. "Working on a farm is something they don't naturally get a chance to do," she said. "It definitely broadens their view." Affordable Options As a single mom with a daughter in college and two younger sons, Winnie Octave doesn't have much of a budget for summer camp, but she likes her children to have a place to go while she's at work. When a financial aid offer made it possible for her son Tarik, now 13, to go to Worcester Academy's summer sports camp for four weeks last year, she was thrilled. "A lot of kids stay at home in the summertime and have nothing to do, so they can get in trouble," she said. "The Worcester Academy program prevented him from being in trouble." To Tarik, the experience of camp was far more than a child-care solution for a working parent. "He loved it. Oh my God, he loved it," Octave said. An avid soccer and basketball player, Tarik thrived in the competitive atmosphere at the camp and now dreams of being in the NBA. Octave attributes other changes in Tarik to his camp experience last summer, too. She said Tarik used to be careless with his things, but he's not anymore. It doesn't take yelling or even a quiet reminder to ensure he has everything he needs ready for school every morning. His grades have gone up this year, and he made high honors. "He takes better care of himself and his things," Winnie said. "He's a little more mature with things at school. He was not a lazy kid, but when you feel good about yourself, you do so much more." Marguerite Paolino is an award-winning freelance writer from Massachusetts.